DUBAI International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport, also known as Dubai World Central, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have suspended all operations on Saturday (February 28), Dubai Airports said in its statement today.
According to the statement, over 280 flights were cancelled with 250 more delayed due to the escalation of attacks between the US-Israel and Iran.
The airspace that handles more international passengers than any hub on the planet went dark on Sunday morning after Iranian ballistic missiles were shot through it.
All flights to and from Doha were also suspended after the Qatari airspace was closed.
Every single Air India flight to every destination in the entire Middle East was also suspended indefinitely.
Turkish Airlines suspended flights to Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Qatar and the UAE until at least March 2.
Flights from Europe to the Middle East was also suspended, including Lufthansa’s flights to Dubai, Air France’s flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, and Wizz Air’s flights to Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until March 7.
Other airlines affected by the escalation were British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Japan Airlines, Norwegian Air, LOT Polish, Scandinavian Airlines, Aegean, Iberia, Air Arabia, PIA, Saudia, and Air Algerie, with flights either grounded or rerouted.
According to analysts, the closing of Dubai Airports is not only a regional disruption, but also the breaking up of the global aviation network at one of its most critical nodes.
Dubai is not just an airport hub, but the single largest connecting hub between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Every flight from Mumbai to London, from Singapore to Frankfurt, from Nairobi to New York that routes through the Gulf is now either cancelled, delayed, or burning extra fuel on thousand-mile detours around closed airspace, compounding cost by the hour.
Rerouted flights burn more fuel when oil is spiking past USD100 (approx. RM391) a barrel because the same conflict that closed the airspace is threatening the strait that moves 21 million barrels a day.
Airlines are paying surge prices for fuel to fly longer routes around a war zone that did not exist early Saturday morning.
Analysts say every hour the airspace stays closed, the losses multiply across carriers already operating on thin margins.
IndiGo just suspended flights to Almaty, Baku, Tashkent and Tbilisi until March 28, a month of Central Asian connectivity erased because Iranian missiles also crossed their flight paths.
Dubai’s economy, including tourism, trade, finance and logistics, runs on connectivity, and all of it depends on DXB being open.
The UAE just absorbed an act of war on its sovereign territory with a civilian killed in Abu Dhabi from missile debris.
The country that built its entire economic model on being the safe, neutral, connected hub of the Middle East is now closed for business because the country it had no quarrel with fired missiles through its airspace.
Iran did not just attack military bases in the region but effectively shut down the economic engine of the Gulf.
Meanwhile, according to a report by BERNAMA, the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group on Saturday announced that it has cancelled its flights to Dubai scheduled for Feb 28 and March 1 after assessing the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
In a statement to BERNAMA, the national carrier’s spokesperson said SIA flights SQ494 from Singapore to Dubai and SQ495 from Dubai to Singapore on both days will be cancelled.
Scoot has also cancelled flights TR596 from Singapore to Jeddah and TR597 (Jeddah-Singapore) on Saturday (Feb 28).
“We strongly advise customers to update their contact details via the manage booking function on the SIA and Scoot websites or subscribe to the mobile notification service to receive flight updates.
“We will continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely and will adjust our flight paths as needed,” the spokesperson added.
Earlier, Iran announced closing its entire airspace until further notice following reports of Israel attacks on its territory on Saturday.
Iraq has also closed its airspace in response to the latest development, Transport Ministry spokesman, Mitham al-Safi, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
